Buzzing with excitement

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

1/16/13, 8:10 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 9:23 PM CET

Trademark debate is all in the name of Fun Factory.

Well, this should improve the credibility of the European Union. Tomorrow (18 January), the European Court of Justice’s general court is supposed to issue a ruling on a case brought by the German company Fun Factory, which, in case you did not know, is Europe’s biggest manufacturer of erotic toys.

The company, which is based in the oh-so-erotic city of Bremen, filed an application with the EU’s Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (based in the hotter, but sterile, city of Alicante) for a community trademark on the shape of one of its vibrators.

Fun Factory said that the design, composed of three interlocking spheres, was unique and so merited a trademark. The worldly-wise OHIM was unmoved by a “graphic representation” of the device’s shape and function, and rejected the claim, saying that it was not sufficiently distinctive to warrant a trademark.

The company then appealed against the ruling to the general court of the ECJ.